Early Assessment of Chemotherapy Response in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer with Circulating Tumor DNA.

Monitoring treatment efficacy early during therapy could enable a change in treatment to improve patient outcomes. We report an early assessment of response to treatment in advanced NSCLC using a plasma-only strategy to measure changes in ctDNA levels after one cycle of chemotherapy. Plasma samples were collected from 92 patients with Stage IIIB-IV NSCLC treated with first-line chemo- or chemoradiation therapies in an observational, prospective study.

Plasma-based longitudinal mutation monitoring as a potential predictor of disease progression in subjects with adenocarcinoma in advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Identifying and tracking somatic mutations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) by next-generation sequencing (NGS) has the potential to transform the clinical management of subjects with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: Baseline tumor tissue (n = 47) and longitudinal plasma (n = 445) were collected from 71 NSCLC subjects treated with chemotherapy. cfDNA was enriched using a targeted-capture NGS kit containing 197 genes.

Disease Monitoring Using Post-induction Circulating Tumor DNA Analysis Following First-Line Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer.

Purpose: We assessed plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) level as a prognostic marker for progression-free survival (PFS) following first-line metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) therapy.

Experimental Design: The Sequencing Triplet With Avastin and Maintenance (STEAM) was a randomized, phase II trial investigating efficacy of bevacizumab (BEV) plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin/oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) and 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin/irinotecan (FOLFIRI), administered concurrently or sequentially, versus FOLFOX-BEV in first-line mCRC. Evaluation of biomarkers associated with treatment outcomes was an exploratory endpoint.

Concordance of Genomic Alterations by Next-Generation Sequencing in Tumor Tissue versus Cell-Free DNA in Stage I-IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Molecular biomarkers hold promise for personalization of cancer treatment. However, a typical tumor biopsy may be difficult to acquire and may not capture genetic variations within or across tumors. Given these limitations, tumor genotyping using next-generation sequencing of plasma-derived circulating tumor (ct)-DNA has the potential to transform non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) management.

Population pharmacokinetics and dosing implications for cobimetinib in patients with solid tumors.

Purpose: To characterize cobimetinib pharmacokinetics and evaluate impact of clinically relevant covariates on cobimetinib pharmacokinetics.

Methods: Plasma samples (N = 4886) were collected from 487 patients with various solid tumors (mainly melanoma) in three clinical studies (MEK4592g, NO25395, GO28141). Cobimetinib was administered orally, once daily on either a 21-day-on/7-day-off, 14-day-on/14-day-off or 28-day-on schedule in a 28-day dosing cycle as single agent or in combination with vemurafenib.

The role of ERCP in the management of gallstone-associated acute pancreatitis: A prospective study of 64 patients at Riyadh Central Hospital.

In a prospective study, consecutive patients admitted to one of the surgical units at Riyadh Central Hospital with a diagnosis of acute biliary pancreatitis (ABP) underwent, after stabilization, urgent ERCP within 72 hours of admission. A total of 64 patients (35 males, 29 females) were treated over a four-year period (1986-1990). Forty-eight patients were found to have common bile duct stones when endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) and stone extraction was performed, including four patients with concomitant cholangitis.